GIBSONBURG - If the weather cooperates, construction on Standard Wellness' 50,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art cultivation facility should be done by October and producing medical marijuana by early 2019.

That's not as soon as Standard Wellness President/CEO Erik Vaughan or village officials had originally planned.

Government delays in the licensing process, along with some weather issues affecting construction, have caused medical marijuana firms statewide to miss the state's original target date of Sept. 8 for being operational.

Gostomski said grow cycles for each medical marijuana cultivation plant will vary among producers, but Vaughan said it would take three to four months to grow marijuana at the Gibsonburg facility once it passes inspection.

Standard Wellness' inspection is scheduled for October, and Vaughan said this week that construction of the facility in Gibsonburg's Clearview Industrial Park is about 75 percent complete.

Hiring has started

A cultivation manager has been hired and Standard Wellness plans to employ 20 to 30 people. Mayor Steve Fought has said the new jobs will pay between $12 and $20 per hour, and administrative and management jobs will pay $100,000 a year or more.

Village Administrator Marc Glotzbecker said Gibsonburg has been working with public utilities to get the Standard Wellness site ready for operations.

He said the village's tax revenue projections for Standard Wellness in 2018 and 2019 were fluid, knowing that the company would need time to get its operations going in the first couple of years.

He stressed that, for Gibsonburg, having a large industry operate within the village, with a population of around 2,500, is a new experience.

"We feel it's going to be a good relationship for us and the community," Glotzbecker said.

Buy Photo

If construction and a state inspection go as planned, Standard Wellness' 50,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art cultivation facility in Gibsonburg should be producing medical marijuana in early 2019(Photo: Daniel Carson/The News-Messenger)

Gostomski said once a cultivator gets a certificate of operation it can start growing medical marijuana.

If Standard Wellness passes the inspection scheduled for October, the facility should be on track to become operational this fall and start producing medical marijuana by February or March 2019, Vaughan said.

The Gibsonburg facility was one of 13 statewide, out of 109 applicants, to receive a Level I license from the Ohio Department of Commerce to grow medical marijuana.

$50 million investment

Standard Wellness broke ground on the facility in December, and Gibsonburg Mayor Steve Fought said at the time that Standard Wellness planned to invest $50 million in the community over a 10-year period for building costs, payroll, maintenance and community giving.

Glotzbecker said the heralded arrival of Standard Wellness at the industrial park has generated inquiries, through the Sandusky County Economic Development Corporation, from several other businesses interested in possibly relocating to Gibsonburg.

Buy Photo

Standard Wellness' medical marijuana cultivation facility in Gibsonburg should be completed in October. CEO Erik Vaughan said Standard Wellness has started hiring staff for the facility.(Photo: Daniel Carson/The News-Messenger)

Vaughan said this week that, in addition to the grow facility, Standard Wellness is also awaiting word on whether the company will be awarded a processing license, which would allow the company to process medical marijuana on-site in Gibsonburg.

Gostomski said the state has received more than 100 processor applications and expects applicant scores to be finalized within the next week, with the state hoping to announce processing license recipients soon after.

On June 4, the state pharmacy board awarded provisional licenses for 56 medical marijuana dispensaries in Ohio, including one to Cannamed Therapeutics for a Fremont facility to serve Sandusky, Ottawa and Seneca counties.

Nearly two months after the announcement, there has been no visible renovation of the Fremont dispensary site at 1800 E. State St., in the Applewood Village Shopping Center.

Todd Yaross, a Columbus attorney listed as the contact person and chief compliance officer for Cannamed Therapeutics and Terrasana Labs, could not be reached for comment Friday about the Fremont dispensary.

The state's medical board listed 185 doctors as of July 11 that have been approved to recommend medical marijuana for patients, but none of those doctors reside in Sandusky or Ottawa counties. The closest doctors approved for recommending medical marijuana are in Perrysburg, Norwalk, Sandusky and Toledo.